My lollipop hitch broke after 2000 miles. It had tipped up a couple of times and seen some intense use but it was still annoying and left us stranded in France for a week. Nick did send a replacement, including a new prototype, but as a warning, the hitch shown in Mick's photos are seriously flawed.

The one you're thinking of is the first saturday of the month outside Mud Dock cycle shop/cafe - it's free to trade, no entry fee and starts at midday. It's organised by big Mark of the Cheesy Riders. Incidentally, there's one at Long Aston village hall in about 1 1/2 hours time (2pm) organised by B...

Just wait until you have them in hand - seriously, I have far too many spare spoke sets from being impatient and ordering before having the hub/rim to measure. If you're using ambrosio/system-ex/on-one style budget fixed hubs then you are likely to need 292mm (rear hub, 32h, 3x) or 290mm for 36h. Un...

Nothing to stop you doing that with your campag set up in 8 or 9 speed flavour - just need a shiftmate or appropriate/relevant shimergo solution. Edit - if you want 10 speed and/or SRAM shifters then you're quite right but I'm sure someone told me that front mechs were a different cable pull ration ...

My other half does - flats + big 'L' shaped bar ends. It's something we did on tour as it solved the problem of gloveless sweaty hands slipping around on her grips (Ergon - she never did find them especially comfortable).

That's a useful tip about the Friendship cycle route - we're aiming for Slovenia/Croatia (albeit from Santander on an extended three month european tour so no flying to worry about) so will have to look into that.

I'm 6' 2.5" and don't have my Brooke's saddles fully back on any of my bikes, and never had. ??? The problem is that all these modern Taiwanese touring frames have idiotic 73 degree seat angles. No problem with a 1950s frameset, where it was 70 or 71 degrees. I think the real problem is that B...

Saw loads of bikes set up like this when in France recently - mostly more 'mature' riders so presumably to get the extra brake leverage (it was Provence so hilly!) but still having integrated gear shifters. Given how the gear change works, I'd imagine that shimano or sram are best suited for this se...

I had a custom 'audax' frame made and there are a few revisions that I'd probably consider now: 1. Pump peg under the top tube. I had it on the seat stay and now have a very rusty blackburn frame pump from constant spray on dry days. 2. Fork lamp boss. I got a carbon fork but a part of me wishes tha...

Should you decide not to build it yourself, Bad Ass Bikes (don't be put off by the name) is widely regarded as the best place to get bullet proof hand built wheels - they're MTB focussed and build for many local pros so standards are very, very high. They've recently moved and are now on Burrington ...

Thanks for this everyone - I stumbled across this thread before setting up my CR520's last night. Basically I'd put V-brakes onto a Surly LHT frame but no amount of fettling had them working to satisfactory standard with a drop bar set up (using V-brake drop levers), so I thought I'd just go for the...